HK Stock Market Move | WuXi AppTec (02359) rises more than 3%, planning to spend 1 billion yuan to repurchase A shares. JP Morgan holds a positive view on the company's fundamentals.

WuXi AppTec (02359) rose more than 3%, with a rise of 3.42% as of the time of writing, reaching 120.8 Hong Kong dollars, with a trading volume of 10.49 billion Hong Kong dollars. In terms of news, WuXi AppTec announced last night that the company plans to repurchase A shares through centralized bidding trading with its own funds of 1 billion yuan, the repurchase price not exceeding 156.95 yuan per share. The repurchased shares will be used for the employee shareholding plan. The repurchase period will be within 12 months after the approval of the board of directors. It is worth mentioning that since its listing in 2018, the company has distributed nearly 25 billion yuan to investors through cash dividends and share repurchases. At the end of May, the company just implemented a record-breaking cash dividend of over 4.7 billion yuan, and concurrently launched an H-share incentive trust plan worth 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars. Morgan Stanley holds a positive view on the fundamentals of WuXi AppTec, primarily due to the moderate competition in the small molecule CRDMO field and the company's continuous expansion of capacity. The diversification of business segments can benefit from the growth in different fields, as well as the significant demand for GLP-1 and the strong growth momentum of its WuXi TIDES platform. The bank believes that the market has already digested the uncertainties brought about by US tariffs, therefore maintaining an "overweight" rating for WuXi AppTec, with a target price of 172 Hong Kong dollars.